Report: Napolitano Misled Congress

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitanolied to Congress about her department’s special centers where state and local police could share information with the federal government about terrorism and other crimes. This accusation against Napolitano appears, shockingly enough, in a bipartisan report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

The so-called “fusion center” program, which Napolitano asserted to Congress was a smashing success, had “serious problems,” according to the report, which also stated, “The findings of both the 2010 and 2011 assessments contradict public statements by [Homeland Security] officials including congressional testimony from Ms. Napolitano.”

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Ms. Napolitano and other officials consistently avowed that there were 72 fusion centers when there were only 68. Sen. Thomas Coburn of Oklahoma, the subcommittee‘s senior Republican, charged, “The department opted not to inform Congress or the public of serious problems plaguing its fusion center and broader intelligence efforts.” He added that, when investigators asked to see the internal assessments, Homeland Security, “initially resisted turning them over, arguing that they were protected by privilege, too sensitive to share, were protected by confidentiality agreements, or did not exist at all. The American people deserve better.”